


A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion

by chaletian



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-10
Updated: 2010-06-10
Packaged: 2017-10-10 01:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/93692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaletian/pseuds/chaletian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>He is an old man from a lost world. He has had this adventure, and many after it.</i> Spock Prime watches the new crew of the Enterprise prepare for their mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion

Spock has always known that regret is a wasted emotion, but it is one that grows harder to resist as age creeps up on him. In this case, it is particularly wasted: it is an indulgence, one that he perhaps allows in order to delay a more prolonged reflection upon the destruction of this universe's Vulcan. (He knows he is not to blame; his failure to save Romulus may have been the root cause for Nero's actions, but he could not have foreseen what would ensue; this does not comfort him.)

_In the loading bay, Jim Kirk stands talking with Captain Pike. His face is serious, but his eyes follow one of the female medical officers as she carries equipment past him, and a smirk appears automatically._

Spock has lived long and he has lived well. He has, indeed, prospered, though his history has not been free of incident. He has watched his friends live and he has watched them die, and he has moved on to other things.

_Scotty shouts and waves his arms as he checks the engineering inventory, and does not look at all like one of the galaxy's most brilliant engineers._

He will have a new role to play on a new Vulcan. It will be important.

_Uhura walks towards the shuttle, focused, in control, though her gaze flickers at where the younger Spock is standing, and that development is... fascinating._

He is an old man from a lost world. He has had this adventure, and many others after it.

_Dr McCoy looks distrustfully at Chekov, who is talking excitedly about a new scientific mechanism that will allow them to travel further, faster, and says he was always a fan of taking the scenic route._

This is their mission. Not his.

_Jim joins his crew, and they are visible, if you look: the links that already bind these people together._

But Spock yearns, once more, for that mission. To explore new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms. To be with his friends, to be young, for the universe to be new and theirs for the taking.

He is old and his time for adventure has been and gone. He has continued a purposeful life. But right here, right now, watching what he can never have again, regret is like a knife in his heart.

THE END


End file.
